It’s a can’t miss day for runners. It's the race synonymous with New England.
The New Balance Falmouth Road Race hit the Cape Cod streets for its 47th running Sunday.
The 7-mile race starts in Woods Hole and ends in the seaside town of Falmouth. It's considered one of the premier foot races in the country, drawing 12,800 participants and 100,000 spectators.
The wheelchair division began at 8:40 a.m., the elite women at 8:50 a.m. and the elite men and open division at 9 a.m.
"Last year, when I came across the first mile and saw that the mile marker was literally painted into the road, I was like, this town lives for running, and it's such a special place to run a race like this," said Ben Flanagan, last year's first-place finisher. “It still feels like a dream to this day.”
For 10-year-old Madelyn Wilson this race was part of a dream that started back at the 2013 Boston Marathon.
"I saw the racing chairs go by at the marathon and I asked my mom and dad if I can have one," the Auburn girl said.
Each year, the race draws an international field of Olympians, elite and recreational runners out to enjoy the seaside course. Proceeds support youth athletic programs in the town of Falmouth and other nonprofit community groups.
This year's men's field included Stephen Sambu of Kenya and Leonard Korir of the U.S.
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Korir, who became the first American man to win the road race since 1988, said
The women's field included Americans Sara Hall and Des Linden, who won the Boston Marathon in 2018.
“The crowd just made it worth it out there,” said Hall, who was the first American woman to finish and second place overall. “It was so exciting chasing down the winner and trying to catch her at the end.”
Winning for the women was Sharon Lokedi, a 25-year-old Kenyan making her Falmouth debut.
2019 Boston Marathon winner Daniel Romanchuk and 4-time Boston Marathon winner Tatyana McFadden headlined the fields for the wheelchair division.
Romanchuk and McFadden each broke their own course records, finishing in 21:58 and 26:15, respectively. It was McFadden’s fifth win there, and Romanchuk’s third.
NBC10 Boston and NECN anchor Brian Shactman kicked it all off at the starting line, both emceeing the event and running the race.
"If you have never run a longer race, this is the one to do, because it has all the energy of the marathon, but you don't have to go 26.2," he said.
NBC10 Boston, Telemundo Boston and NECN are proud partners of this year's Falmouth Road Race, which was livestreamed from the start to finish on nbc10boston.com, necn.com and telemundoboston.com.
